How does scoring work in Brilliant Assessments?

Scoring and Ratings are core concepts in Brilliant Assessments. They determine how feedback text, charts, and results are generated, even when scores are not visible to respondents. Scores are calculated first, and Ratings are derived from those scores.

How scores are set up

You do not choose a scoring method. You set up scoring once, by giving each answer a point value.

• Each answer has a score value (for example, 1, 2, 3, or 4 points).
• Each question has a Maximum Score, which is the highest score available for that question. For a single-choice question with answers worth 1, 2, 3, and 4, the Maximum Score is 4.
• Scores then aggregate automatically at every level: Question, Subsection, Section, and Response (the overall assessment).

Both values are always calculated

Every score is automatically calculated and stored in two forms at every level. You do not select one at setup. Both always exist, and you choose which one to display when you build your report.

• Percentage score. The answer score divided by the maximum score, expressed as a percentage.
• Average score (Likert scoring). The total answer score divided by the number of questions answered, reported on the original answer scale.

Example: a single question

A single-choice question has four answers worth 1, 2, 3, and 4 points, so its Maximum Score is 4. Depending on which answer the respondent selects, the system stores both values automatically:

Example: across several questions

A subsection has five questions, each scored 1 to 4 (Maximum Score 4 each, so the subsection maximum is 20). A respondent scores 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4, for a total of 14. The system stores both:

• Percentage: 14 ÷ 20 = 70%
• Average (Likert): 14 ÷ 5 = 2.8

The percentage divides by the maximum available; the average (Likert) value divides by the number of questions answered, keeping the result on the original 1 to 4 scale.

Choosing which value to display

Because both values are stored, the choice of which to show is made in the report, not at setup. You pull whichever value suits your audience using the merge string parameters in your template, and you can show both if you wish. Percentage normalizes results to a 0 to 100% scale, while the average (Likert) value keeps results on the original answer scale (for example, 2.8 out of 4). See Configuring Assessment Scores for display options.

How ratings are applied

Rating bands are defined as percentages. Each band maps a percentage range to a Rating (for example, 0-40% = Beginner, 41-70% = Intermediate, 71-100% = Expert). Because the bands are percentage-based, the rating is matched on the percentage score, even when you choose to display the average (Likert) value in your report. If you prefer to think in Likert terms, convert to a percentage to set a threshold (for example, 3.5 out of 5 is 70%).

To create and configure rating bands, see Managing Ratings and Rating Scales.

Ratings are then used to drive:

• Rating colors in charts.
• Conditional or rating-based text in reports.
• Certification outcomes.
• Conditional content displayed to respondents.

Questions with a Maximum Score of zero are excluded from scoring. For Multiple Choice (multiple selection) questions, answer scores accumulate up to the Maximum Score configured on the question.

For full details, see Configuring Assessment Scores and Managing Ratings and Rating Scales.